Furniture assembly



May 24, 1956 c. c. scHRocK 3,252,736

FURNITURE ASSEMBLY Filed Sept. 30, 1964 Empf-JUS L. Hamann. BY QW? l/L United States Patent Ofiice 3,252,736 FURNITURE ASSEMBLY Ceaphiis C. Schreck, Archbold, Ohio, assigner to Sauder lllnufacturing Co., Archhold, Ghia, a corporation of Filed Sept. 30, 1964, Ser. No. 400,491 3 Claims. (Cl. 297-452) This invention relates to a furniture assembly and, more particularly, to an improved furniture `assembly which prevents undesired relative horizontal movement between basic components of the assembly.

Furniture, for example, church pews, are often Constructed with a solid Wood seat. The upper surface of the seat is normally lacquered resulting in an attractive b ut slippery upper seat surface. A loose cushion is positioned on the upper surface of the seat and because of the low coefficient of friction of the upper surface the cushion has a tendency to slide off the front of the seat particularly when one or more occupants of the pew attempt to kneel during the service.

The prior art has attempted to solve this problem by placing a raised lip extending above the upper surface of the seat, on the front edge of the pew. The front lip is not satisfactory from an architectural or structural standpoint. The front lip assembly also provides a dust and dirt trap making cleaning and refinishing of the church pew difficult.

Itis the primary object of the invention to provide a furniture assembly which prevents undesired relative movement between a highly finished seat surface and a cushion positioned on the seat.

It is another object of the instant invention to provide an improved furniture assembly which is attractive from an architectural viewpoint and which is easy to maintain.

Other objects of this invention will become apparent from the following specification and drawing in which:

FIG. l is a front perspective view, with parts broken away, showing one embodiment of a furniture assembly, according to the instant invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, vertical cross-sectional View taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. l and shown on an enlarged scale;

3 is a fragmentary, front perspective View of a friction strip, according to the instant invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic view showing a friction strip being applied to a seat;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a friction pad according to the instant invention; and FIG. 6 is a fragmentary, vertical sectional view, showing another embodiment of the instant invention.

Briefly, the invention relates to a furniture assembly comprising a generally flat bench-like seat having a normally slippery upper surface and at least one loose cushion positioned on the seat. The term, generally flat benchlike seat, also includes seats having a contoured or shaped upper surface wherever such term is used in this specification and in the appended claims. At least one friction member is positioned adjacent the upper surface of the seat and is interposed between the upper surface and the cushion. The frictional engagement of the friction member and the underside of the cushion prevents undesired hoiizontal movement between the seat and the cushion when a horizontal component of force is applied to the cushion.

Referring to FIG. 1, a church pew assembly is generally indicated at 10. The pew 10 includes ends 11 and 12, a back 13, an intermediate support 14 and a bench-like seat 15. The seat 15 has a slippery upper surface 16 resulting from the constru-ction procedure whereby the wooden components of the pew 10 are thoroughly sanded and a surface coating, for example, lacquer is aPPHed- In the Patented May 24, 1966 preferred embodiment a plurality of friction strips 17 are fastened to the upper surface 16 of the seat 15 by an adhesive layer 18 or by other suitable means (see FIG. 4).

The friction strip 17 has a gripping upper surface 19 with a high coefficient of friction. Preferably, the friction strips 17 are resilient and it has been found that polyurethane foam is a satisfactory material for this purpose. Referring to FIG. l, the friction strips 17 are longitudinally extending and transversely spaced with respect to the seat 15. However, the strips may extend in any direction with respect to the seat 15 and still be within the scope of the instant invention. Friction members of varying shapes and sizes may be used in the assembly as will be described in detail below.

A loose cushion 20 preferably having a rough textured underside 21 is positioned on the seat 15. It has been found that frieze, corduroy, and mohair fabrics, all of which have a relatively high coeicient Iof friction are preferred cushion covering materials. When the cushion 20 is positioned on the seat 15, the friction strips 17 are interposed between the upper surface 16 of the seat 15 and the underside 21 of the cushion 20. The gripping upper surface 19 of the friction strips 17 engages the underside 21 of the cushion 20 and the frictional engagement of the surfaces prevents undesirable relative horizontal movement between the seat 15 and the cushion 20. When a person sitting in the church pew 10 moves or slides forward, for example to assume a kneeling position, the frictional engagement between the strips 17 and the underside 21 eliectively prevents the cushion 20 from also sliding forward over the slippery upper surface 16 of the seat 15.

Referring to FIG. 5, another embodiment of a friction member is shown. The member comprises a square friction pad 25 having rounded corners 26. However, the friction member may be constructed with other geometrical shapes, for examples circular and triangular shapes. The friction pad 25 has a gripping upper surface 27 and a lower surface 28. In this embodiment, a plurality of spaced apart friction pads 25 are fastened -to the upper surface 16 of the seat 15. Any suitable fastening means may be used, however, a preferred means is an adhesive layer 29 on the lower surfaces 28 of the friction pads 25. The friction pads 25 are interposed between the upper surface 16 of the seat 15 and the cushion underside 21. The gripping upper surface 27 engages the cushion underside 21 and effectively prevents horizontal movement between the seat 15 and the cushion 20, as described above. In some instances it has been found suflicient merely to press the strips of friction material on the seat surface while the lacquer linish is still wet and tacky. Upon drying of the lacquer, the strips will be firmly adhered.

Referring to FIG. 6, another embodiment of the instant invention is shown. A recess 32 is formed in the upper surface 16 of the seat 15 and a friction member such as the friction strip 17 is positioned within the recess 32. Preferably, the gripping upper surface 19 of the friction strip 17 extends slightly above the plane of the upper surface 16 of the seat 15 and frictionally engages the cushion underside 21. The frictional force between the upper gripping surface 19 of the friction strip 17 and the cushion underside 21 effectively prevents relative horizontal movement between the cushion 20 and the seat 15 when a horizontal component of force is applied to the cushion 2l).

While the present invention has been disclosed with a speciiic arrangement and disposition of the parts, it should be expressly understood that numerous modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a furniture assembly comprising a longitudinally extending, generally Hat bench-like seat having a normally slippery upper surface, and at least one loose cushion having a rough textured underside removably positioned thereon, the improvement comprising a plurality of longitudinally extending and transversely spaced resilient friction strips fastened to said upper surface of said seat and being interposed between said upper seat surface and said cushion underside, said friction strips having an upper exposed surface having a high coefficient of friction engaging said underside of said cushion, whereby when such assembly is in an operable condition relative movement between such cushion and such seat is restrained in a direction parallel to the plane of such seat.

2. In a furnitureassembly comprising a generally flat bench-like seat having a normally slippery upper surface and at least one loose cushion having a rough textured underside removably positioned thereon, the improvement comprising a plurality of spaced apart friction members fastened to said seat upper surface and interposed between said seat upper surface and said cushion underside, said friction members having an upper exposed surface having a high coefficient of friction engaging said underside of said cushion whereby an increased horizontal component of force is required to effect relative horizontal movement between said seat and said cushion.

3. A furniture assembly, according to claim 2, wherein the seat has a plurality of recesses in its upper surface, said friction members being positioned in such recesses.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,030,135 2/ 1936 Carpenter 248-205 2,256,979 9/1941 Jones 297-426 2,606,598 8/1952 Smith 248-350 2,703,603 3/1955 Endicott 297-450 2,816,601 12/ 1957 Plummer 297-450 2,921,403 1/1960 Cunnington 5-355 2,940,210 6/1960 Aulds 5-334 3,065,031 11/ 1962 Henry 297-450 3,070,402 12/1962 Stanton 297-452 3,147,997 9/1964 Mason 297--452 FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner.

C. A. NUNBERG, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN A FURNITURE ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDING, GENERALLY FLAT BENCH-LIKE SEAT HAVING A NORMALLY SLIPPERY UPPER SURFACE, AND AT LEAST ONE LOOSE CUSHION HAVING A ROUGH TEXTURED UNDERSIDE REMOVABLY POSITIONED THEREON, THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDING AND TRANSVERSELY SPACED RESILIENT FRICTION STRIPS FASTENED TO SAID UPPER SURFACE OF SAID SEAT AND BEING INTERPOSED BETWEEN SAID UPPER SEAT SURFACE AND SAID CUSHION UNDERSIDE, SAID FRICTION STRIPS HAVING AN UPPER EXPOSED SURFACE HAVING A HIGH COEFFICIENT OF FRICTION ENGAGING SAID UNDERSIDE OF SAID CUSHION, WHEREBY WHEN SUCH ASSEMBLY IS IN AN OPERABLE CONDITION RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN SUCH CUSHION AND SUCH SEAT IS RESTRAINED IN A DIRECTION PARALLEL TO THE PLANE OF SUCH SEAT. 